turtledovefandomcom-20200216-history
Home
Home is the native planet of the Race, the second planet in orbit around Tau Ceti. Physical Characteristics Home is a hot, arid world containing only a few large bodies of water, so that maritime navigation is mostly a curiosity. The first male of the Race to circumnavigate the planet, Sherran, did so using overland routes. Precipitation is rare compared to most of Earth's climate, and snow is all but unheard of anywhere but the polar regions. In the spring and summer, the South Pole is chilly by the Race's standards but not uncomfortably so, and is a popular tourist destination. Home's geography does not offer too many pronounced borders such as wide rivers or high mountain ranges. This is one possible reason for the Race's slow cultural development: the absence of natural borders prevented the formation of durable competing not-empires, which did not lead to arms races. Home completes its orbit around Tau Ceti in only half the time that Earth orbits its sun. Thus, when the Race speaks of a two-year period, only one year has passed on Earth. A day on Home lasts 25¼ hours measured locally in tenths. Biosphere Home has given rise to mostly reptilian animal life, with the Race, of course, at the top of its philogenies. The beffel, the tsiongi, the eppori, the azwaca, and the zisuili are among Home's other animals. There are only a few species of flying animals, and these too are reptilian; their wings are leathery. All are like the Race in that they have an intense mating season brought on by emission of pheromones by fertile females a few weeks each spring, and are sexually inactive the rest of the year. History Home has been politically unified for one hundred thousand of its years. Before that time, it was divided into competing empires. The empire ruled by the Ssumaz dynasty (centered in Preffilo) became dominant, overran all the others in conquests which set the pattern for those later undertaken on Rabotev 2 and Halless 1 and that attempted on Earth. This unification marks the division between the Race's ancient and modern histories, though even in its ancient history the Race was technologically advanced. The Race's military technology, tactics and strategy remained essentially frozen at the stage where it was during the Unification of Home, with no military threat to give incentive for further developments. In addition to the Race, a number of Rabotevs and Hallessi inhabit Home. The majority of these are descended from talented students who came to Home to receive a superior education to that which was available on their homeworlds. Home was visited by Tosevites in the Earth year 2031 travelling aboard the Admiral Peary, an American starship comparable to those of Home's Conquest Fleet and Colonization Fleet but slightly slower. This ship's primary mission was to set up an embassy. Originally the ambassador was to be The Doctor, but he failed to recover from cold sleep and ambassadorial duties fell to Sam Yeager. Yeager was assisted by his son, Jonathan Yeager; his daughter-in-law, Karen Yeager; ecologist Tom de la Rosa and his wife, Linda; and US Army Major Frank Coffey. During their stay, the Emperor's government arranged tours of areas all over Home for the humans. The Admiral Peary was later joined by the FTL starship Commodore Perry. This marked the first military threat to Ssumaz hegemony on Home in the Race's modern history. Locales Cities *Preffilo - capital. *Rizzaffi *Rosspan *Sitneff Home Category:Worldwar